1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a spill deck which can be used as a support for hazardous or non-hazardous material, machinery, or appliances, and, more particularly, to a spill deck constructed from a plurality of interlocking modules.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Various types of pallet structures are known in the art for supporting and transporting drums or other containers of hazardous and non-hazardous material. Many of these pallet devices include a basin or reservoir for containment of any material that leaks from the supported drums. For the most part, these known pallet structures have been comparatively complex in manufacture and assembly and have failed to efficiently provide for dispersal and containment of secondary hazardous or non-hazardous material spills from the supported drums.
One significant drawback to such prior art pallet structures is the height of the structure which generally is in the range of from 11 to 17 inches. This height is needed to so that the spill deck contains a sufficient capacity to comply with the requirements of 40 CFR .sctn. 264,175 for containment of hazardous material. Under this regulation, a spill deck must have sufficient volume to contain the greater of 100% of the volume of the largest container on the deck or 10% of the total volume of all containers while maintaining a separation of the vessel from the accumulated liquid. The height of the pallet structure prevents a container from being rolled thereon. Rather, mechanical lifting means must generally be used to place the container on the pallet.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,020,667 to Bush discloses a pallet structure including a confined chamber which is rectangular in shape and has a plurality of spaced rows of confined subchambers. The subchambers define rows of access passages extending therebetween to accommodate pallet lifting means, such as a fork lift. A tubular member can be used to support a grating and the tubular member includes a series of apertures which allow spilled materials to flow to their surrounding subchambers.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,092,151 to Hamaker et al. discloses a liquid containment pallet for containing liquid leaked or otherwise spilled from supportive industrial drums. A basin beneath the platform collects the spilled liquid through a series of openings. Thereafter, the liquid may be removed through a drain opening. The liquid containment portion for the pallet is vertically disposed with respect to the balance of the pallet. Additional hazardous material pallet structures are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,838,178; 4,930,632; 5,036,976; 5,147,039; 5,249,699; 5,254,798 and 5,307,931.
Material handling pallets, such as freight pallets and the like, that can be connected together to form a larger transport pallet are known in the art. These pallets are generally light weight, non-durable pallets designed for use with non-hazardous material containers. U.S. Pat. No. 4,095,769 to Fengels discloses an air freight pallet having connecting pieces which can be inserted on a connecting side of another pallet to join the pallets together. Other examples of connectable pallets are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,857,342; 4,062,301; and 4,694,962. None of these pallets are provided with a secondary containment volume sufficient to hold the leakage from a container.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a durable deck module for support of hazardous or non-hazardous material containers. It is a further object of the invention to provide a deck module which can be connected to other like-deck modules to form a deck assembly for support of hazardous or non-hazardous material containers while permitting fluid transfer from one deck to another.